"BPI recognizes that there are many Spanish speaking professionals in the home performance industry, or looking to develop their careers here," says BPI CEO Larry Zarker. "The Spanish BSP offers…Continue

GoodCents energy auditors, certified by the Building Performance Institute, are the gatekeepers to an incredibly successful Home Performance with Energy Star (HPwES) program implemented by Dominion…Continue

The Building Performance Institute, Inc. (BPI) is proud to announce that BPI-1100-T-2014: Home Energy Auditing Standard has been published as an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard.…Continue

HAVE YOU HEARD!? Today, BPI released the second edition of the Building Science Principles Certificate Exam and Reference Guide!The second edition features an entire section dedicated to DOE's Home…Continue

I would like to see BPI come out a complete section on testing for spillage, co, draft and efficiency on all the different Heating and DHW venting/ power venting, induced fan, direct venting, sealed combustion, etc.configurations out there, along with the difference between negative and positive venting.

Hi Timothy, That's great news! If you can stand it, my main advice would be what your mother would say: eat all your vegetables, go to bed on time the night before, arrive with a clear head and a sharpened #2 pencil. Take good notes.

Beyond that, I recommend researching the "house as a system" concept of whole house energy efficiency. Start with this video, and read this page of our BPI website. You may want to look over the BPI Building Analyst Field Guide. If it is confusing, don't worry. It will make sense to you after you take the course. If you're really ambitious, Google the term "Whole House as a System" and browse; there's lots of interesting material out there. Best of luck!

Thanks for the question Sean. BPI can provide only a very general response, given the lack of specifics concerning the question.

If a contractor is stating an R value of 20, they would be required to verify the success of the installed measure just as they would any other measure. There will be a certain degree of variances (installed specifications) between R ratings based on the actual insulating materials being used.

To achieve an overall insulation rating of R 20, the ducts would typically require extensive insulation being applied directly to them. While this may not be impossible, it may be highly unlikely given the fact that heating/air conditioning ducts frequently run in confined spaces, such as wall and ceiling bays. Ducts located in any confined spaces would allow only a certain amount of insulation to be applied properly.

Sean - You could use Rick Karg's Zip TestPro software to calculate the R value by knowing the delta T between the indoor surface temperature (the temperature of the wall of the duct) and the ground temperature around the duct and the temperature of the air in the duct and the temperature of the wall of the duct. The software will then provide you with an R value. (http://www.karg.com/products.htm)

Isn't it great that these terms: home performance contracting, energy audits, ratings, certification, team approach, leads, sales, marketing, money... are out there big time in webinars and presentations as more and more contractors and providers are getting with this industry. Let's not lose site of this: PEOPLE use energy, not houses. Yes, we want to close deals to get the work done. And, we want to assist our customers in getting what THEY want. We remember to Listen and Love our customers.